The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-06-11

wrote kindly Of her, saying: "Givc my love 10
your most dear mother" She was q very intel
ligent woman, and acted for long time as
General Harrison's secretary; but at length
returned East, spending the remainder OF her
days with her ncicc, Mrs. Sedgwick, OF literary
notoriety. From there she wrote a letter to
General Harrison's wife on her nmcty-third
birthday containing poem by herself over
the event: "To-day I'm ninety.thrce."
There must have been great destinations In
the freedom OF pioneer life that brought such n
notably intelligent class OF young men and
women from the older States rs settled here in
those days. And how much OF true love" and
hope that springs eternal in the human
breast" enriched the cabin and the clearing,
"Fwcdde" and "Florie," doting on cigarettes
and ice cream. can never know. Does "Floric,
my angel think she would never have parted
from 'Fwcddie darling" even in the solitude OF
"natchue's gwovcsT" Tell her IL Is not an
eternal, or even round year. picnic that pioneers
enjoy. Something OF the life that Mrs. Symmcs
deserted may be pictured. A cabin, rs seen in
these days, especially such Us joaquin Miller
possesses, hardly gives an idea as to how they
were '.in the beginning" 1t was then the gen
uine thing with the bark on 1t. the logs being
only hewn of rudely on the inside. A shag-
bark hickory "cot in the wilderness" might
have looked very sweet" without, but the
csthctic taste OF these days, when elegant robes
cover the floor, would hardly have passed
where all domestic duties were performed in
one or two rooms.
The rude puncheon floor was scrubbed with
splnt broom the water escaping at the low
est hole, the children piled in the cradle and on
the bed meanwhile.
The bedstcad in the corner was formed OF n
forkcd stick stuck in the floor supporting poles,
the ends of which were thrust between the logs.
Upon this rested the luxurious straw bed, the
first nstallment of this article having been i'm
ported in the ox-carts which brought the set
tiers handful Of worldly goods from over the
mountains.
This mode Of conveyance was as royal as It
was convenient. for did not one OF the great
Merovingian Kings ride in state into the ancient
young city of Paris in an ox-carty Whether or
not the Kings oxen were utilized to plow the
adjacent virgin soil afterward, history fails to
record. In the case of the royal pioneer there is
on that score no question.
The cupboard on the wall was made OF rude
boards supported by pegs thrust into auger
holes bored into the logs. The table was II
split slab with legs fastened into auger
holes, while threeegged stools strictly cores
pOnded in style Pegs in the logs made hat
racks, pegs held up the mantclpicce, pegs
held on the roof slabs, pegs did every thing.
The windows were little openings, the width of
q log. and few ut that. covered with creased
paper or cloth. The stairs were ladder upon
which the little angels when large enough,
assembled and descended to and from the loft.
The chimney Of heaped stones rudcly plastered
together, had not far to go to just clear the
roof The door was low, with the latch string
always out. and never locked. No pioneer
ever heard of u thief, whatever the privatons
around him. There soon came to the walls Of
this cabin the huge antlers Of the stag. upon
which hung the rifle and the pOwdcr-horn.
and to the house exterior and interior skins
of beasts, from the bear to the
squirrel. and the masculine wardrobe especi-
ally reioiced therein. A sugar-trough Graded
the young heir to landed estates, and deer
skin made his first real princely pair of
breeches. The father had two enemies to
fight, the forest tree and the Indian, and II be-
fore breakfast he felled the one and had oc-
cason to fell the other, he had earned his morn
ing meal. And If the mother had discovered .
rattlesnake's den in the rocks by the spring
when she went to get the mornings bucket of
water she didn't scream, but told her husband
u snake story at breakfast, which answered in
place OF what the newspapers serve up in these
days:
"Chawles Augustus is something OF d dude,
and pridcs himself on the lady.like appoint
ments of his bcdchambers and his luxurious
couch, neither of which will he under any cir
cumstances relinquish for night, all because
he belongs TO ''ope of the first families, YOU
know" His grandfather was rocked in a
sugartrough, and later slept three in a bed. and
not u wide one at that with his brothers. AS
u big boy he often ate at second table to make
room" for others. But somehow he learned one
virtue, that made him charmingly obliging
gentleman.
Corn and wheat boiled whole, corn pounded
and made into bread, with game and wild fruits,
made substantial diet, eaten upon wooden
dishes. Pounded wheat for pie crust and crab
apples made ideal tarts for dessert The wheel
and the dstaff were ornamental then as now,
but the heavy loom, inexorablc rs fate in its.de-
mands, was their invariabe accompaniment
There was n household library, such as the
Bible, Robinson Crusoe," Foxs Book of Mar
tyrs" and "Gulliver's Travels" These, with
similar ones in very limited numbers. formed in
the community a well-thumbed circulating IL
brary for settlers living miles apart. And there
were weddings and chrstenings and merry
makings In those days, when new shining pew
ter came down from the rude dresser on the
wall, and the dccanter took the place of 'the
little brown Jug" and corn-cob stopper. The
currency was that Of skins of various animals,
all of which had given value. The first Gin.
cinnat: merchant who brought barrel of cop.
per coins to flood the market was nearly
mobSed, and flew the town between two davs,
though not perhaps, to Canada, to some less
distant seclusion.
Matters progressed, however, for Judge
Symmcs wrote with some pride in 1891 that
there were NOW several good houses at North
Bend, shingled with nails, with good stone chin
neys and sash windows with glass in them"
Coffee came TOO, at length, ut one dollar per